members of song are signaling the possibility of a broader inquiry into the scandal that brought down david petraeus. petrae resigned late friday after admitting to an extramarital affair, uncovered as part of an fbi inquiry. >> i was shocked, i was surprised, a little bit in denial. didn't think it was true or even possible. i thought perhaps that, in fact, it had been somebody's attempt to try to bring him down, which has happened in the past. >> several law enforcement officials telling nbc news that the fbi inquiry began as an investigation into harassing and anonymous e-mails sent to a petraeus family friend, a florida woman named jill kelley. the source of those e-mails led them to the author of general's biographer, paula broadwell. correspondence between broadwell and petraeus displayed evidence on an extramarital affair.

now leaders of congressional intelligence are demanding to know more about the fbi's scrutiny of the nation's top spy, especially its timing and why they were kept in the dark along with the rest of the nation. >> we received no advance notice. it was like a lightning bolt. the way i found out, i came back to washington thursday night. friday morning, the staff director told me there were a number of calls from press about this. i called david petraeus. >> and questions remain about why the president and white house were not notified until late last week, months after this all began and days after petraeus and broadwell were questioned in the case. >> once the fbi realized it was investigating the director of the cia or the cia director had come within its focus or its scope, i believe at that time they had an absolute obligation to tell the president. not to protect david petraeus but to protect the president.

>> for the latest on the fallout, let's check in with pete williams. he's been following this for us. pete, let's talk about the time line here. this happened right before the benghazi hearings. petraeus is supposed to have testified at those hearings on thursday. critics are questioning, why are we hearing about all of this later rather than sooner? >> what the fbi and the justice department say is that in the middle of this investigation -- and you have to remember, this starts out with an allegation that had nothing to do with david petraeus, it was thought. this was a woman in tampa, a volunteer at the joint command down there, who goes to an fbi agent who's a friend of hers and says, i'm getting these weird e-mails that are threatening and intimidating. it looked to her initially like they were coming from more than one person because they were sent from more than one e-mail account. so the fbi opens an investigation into a potential cyber crime, a potential sort of cyber stalking case. that's how it all got started in late september. now, during that month and a

half or so that the fbi is investigating this, it has to discover who the e-mails are coming from. officials say that ultimately led them to paula broadwell. they cover in broadwell's e-mail account are what appeared to be e-mails sent from a private account by david petraeus, trying to figure out what that's all about. finally figure out the two of them are having an affair, broadwell and petraeus. and then there's a question about how classified materials showed up on her computer. did they come from petraeus? they didn't. it's a matter of interviewing the two of them, going back and forth, developing the evidence, going to the prosecutors and saying, is there a cyber crime here? the prosecutors finally determining, no, there isn't and at that point, telling the director of national intelligence. what the fbi and justice say, they don't tell in the middle of a criminal investigation other people what they're doing. they say it doesn't make sense for them to tell congress in the middle of a criminal investigation. they don't do that. they say they were satisfied

there was no threat to national security. you can understand what members of congress are saying as well. we should have been told. but overlaying all of this is the unfortunate history of the fbi. there was a time when the fbi in essence trafficked in the gossip about washington officials to burnish its own reputation and intimidate people into doing whatever the fbi want. that's an unfortunate past they're trying to get beyond and that's another sensitivity here. >> pete williams, thanks so much. later on in this hour, we'll speak with roger kressy, more on the security issues. right now, we bring in our panel, joy ann reid, democratic strategist morris reid and david winston. it's great to have you all here. david, i want to start with you. "the new york times" is reporting what nbc news has also

heard from multiple law enforcement officials, that some have known about this investigation and known about it for months. john heilman said this -- >> on both sides, republican in the intelligence community and the law enforcement community, everybody somehow in the space of two weeks managed to not say a word about this on the eve of an election. >> david, are you surprised in such a politically charged time as this election that something like this did not go public and fast, especially with all the scrutiny and questions about what happened in benghazi? >> given the scale of this particular situation, keeping a secret in washington is incredibly difficult. particularly given something like this. but what you're looking at is a situation where things were evolving and the fbi was trying to follow its doctrine. but i think you're going to see congress say, when you're investigating the cia director in terms of something of this scale has implications, we have to think through what the reporting procedures r. i'm not necessarily surprised by this in

the sense that the fbi was clearly trying to just manage a particular case. but i also think that there's a situation here, should it have been appropriate to let the leadership of the house and the senate know about this? i think you're going to walk through the process as they re-evaluate, when it gets to this scale, how do you manage it? >> as we look at the time line here, according to the one that's been given to nbc news by multiple law enforcement official, the president and the white house were not notified about this until last week, after the election. certainly the president's leadership over benghazi and the loss of our four american there is at the consulate has already been questioned. but there is still a lot more to be answered about what happened there. is his not knowing sooner about an inquiry involving his top spy another big problem in washington? >> i think that they wanted to make sure they ran the process through completely before they came to the president. we all know it was such a politically charged environment dealing with benghazi and the cia, we didn't -- they didn't want to bring something to the

president that was half-baked. i think they showed great restraint in really not getting caught up in the politico hoopla that was months ago. they did it the right way by not politicizing this thing. >> petraeus was scheduled to testify this thursday in these congressional senate hearings that have been established to find out more information about benghazi. a lot of which he has been front and center of trying to pull together information on on the point person on this. senator lindsey graham made an important statement -- >> we have four dead americans in benghazi. we have a national secure failure along in the making. i don't see how in the world you can find out what happened in benghazi before, during and after the attack if general petraeus doesn't testify. so from my point of view, it's absolutely essential that he give testimony before the congress so we can figure out benghazi. >> his second is going to step in to give that testimony now.

but could he be compelled to testify? >> he would then be testifying about potentially classified information. but i think congress could certainly call him. you presume the agency second would also have been briefed on what was happening and could give adequate testimony as well. i think republicans for a lot of reasons still want petraeus there because he's the person they wanted to talk to. i think one of the things to remember is there is a slight distinction. the fbi initially was not investigating general petraeus but the potential hacking of his e-mails because the e-mails coming from his alleged lover, they were looking at into whether or not she or someone else was abusing his e-mail. he wasn't the initial target of the investigation. i'm not surprised the fbi didn't initially let congress know. i'm pleasantly surprised because it came to eric cantor, a very partisan member of the house of representatives early, i'm really pleasantly surprised it didn't leak before the election.

>> this investigation, from a minor thread unraveling a major tapestry, it is surprising. as david pointed out, secrets in washington don't sit idly by, especially during an election season where cocktail parties are in full swing. there had to be more people with information, this is not a surprise to most inside the beltway? >> i don't want to get into that rt of speculation. i think what majority leader cantor did in terms of immediately referring it back to the fbi, in terms of what he was alerted was obviously the right way to handle this. having said that, understand that republicans want to hear what general petraeus had to say because he was the decision maker for the cia. this is not getting the number two. they want to know what the decisions were, what the information was there, how he processed it, how he forwarded it to the white house, how the white house handled that. that's why his testimony is so important because, again, ultimately we're going back to why did people die in benghazi and was there a breakdown in

terms of the whole security process? you want the lead person responsible for the intelligence organization to be the person on the stand. >> as we said, his second is going to be the person taking over in that testimony for petraeus. at least for now. also we're finding out that secretary of state hillary clinton is going to be out of the country and not be able to testify as well. two major players that know a lot of the information that certainly congress would want to hear the american people would want to hear. should congress just look at this and be like, we need to get everybody's schedule together and do this at a different time, let the dust settle for petraeus? he can come testify as a civilian, figure out how to deal with the classified part of that, but we need the secretary of state there as well? >> i think the fact is there are more people than one person that runs the government. it's appropriate for the guy stepping into petraeus' shoes to play that role. let's not make the correlation between what happened in benghazi and his personal issues, let's not make this a political football.

number two can do a fine job. if they want to see the secretary of state, he can always come see them any other time. they can move forward with this hearing and have a second follow-up meeting with her. my concern is this may turn into a political hot potato. i was pleased with the way mr. cantor handled it. everyone needs to follow his suit and focus on the issues here. >> we'll move on to a real political hot potato, morris, just for you. the fiscal cliff, i want to put this out to david. i want to find out your reaction to the speaker telling the rank and file to get on board or get out of the way when it comes to the dealings -- the deal that needs to be made about the fiscal cliff. does he have the control he needs to get his party where it needs to be on this to happen? >> he's just laying out a political routing in terms of here's what this election said. the fiscal cliff is a big deal and we need to work together as

a republican conference to move things forward. he laid out a clearmark in terms of where he was going with no tax rate increases but willing to look at tax revenues as a key piece to that. but in this situation, given the humongous nature of the clifl, there's going to have to be an agreement and sticking to that agreement once it's been reached. >> morris, are you surprised by people like bill crystal saying, why not? go ahead, tax millionaires a little bit more? why dig in over this issue because it's not a winning one? >> look at the election. the election was pretty clear. there were two objectives put on the table. they've gone with the objective of taxing millionaires more. i think the speaker of the house is showing great leadership. he understands if they don't get this done, they will be punished in 24 months. the president has a lot of risk here as well because he was reelected and people expect him to show leadership and get things done. it's not just the republicans but all of washington lose ifs

we don't get this fixed. >> chuck todd said if the president were smart, he would circumvent leadership, go to senate, deal over there and then come to boehner and box him in with a deal and present to it him. >> he also said that boehner may want that, too. boehner still doesn't control his caucus. we don't have to ask what the american people wanted. president obama ran on an explicit program of raising taxes on top earners. and boehner is still talking about the romney plan, mess around with loopholes and take away loopholes from top earners. that was romney's plan and romney lost. the president holds the cards here. the world won't come to an end on january 1st if all the rates expire. it's more of a curve. i think we can afford to go off it. >> we'll see. as we quickly approach it. my thanks to the power panel today. i really appreciate your time today. coming up next, a bipartisan plan to fix the nation's debt. the co-chairs are going to join me, ed rendell and former new

hampshire senator judd gregg will join me to talk about this. we want to know what you think. should general petraeus have resigned? tweet me your thoughts about this or find me on facebook. oun] today, jason is here to volunteer to help those in need. when a twinge of back pain surprises him. morning starts in high spirits, but there's a growing pain in his lower back. as lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger. but after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice. just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. today, jason chose aleve. just two pills for all day pain relief. try aleve d for strong, all day long sinus and headache relief. i just finished a bowl of your new light chicken pot pie soup and it's so rich and creamy... is it really 100 calories? let me put you on webcan... ...lean roasted chicken... and a creamy broth mmm i can still see you. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

welcome back, everybody. you're just in time for the spin room. with the fiscal cliff looming, the white house will embark on a campaign to gain support for its plans to attack the deficit. on tuesday, the president meets with labor leaders at the white house. on wednesday, he powwows with ceos. and then congressional leaders will meet with him at home. joining me now are ed rendell

and judd gregg. co-chairs of the "fix the debt" campaign. great to have you here. this is an important and timely consideration that needs to be had. senator gregg and the governor, you're from two different parties. senator, since you're in front of me, coming together for this one common cause, explain from your vantage point now how you can see bipartisanship working, knowing d.c. as it is now. >> as a practical matter, you can't address the huge issues like social security, medicare, medicaid and tax reform unless it's bipartisan because the american people won't accept action until they believe the action to be fair. and fairness requires bipartisanship. we've pulled together a fairly large group to try to show there is a pathway to getting together a comprehensive agreement that gets the debt down and makes our country fiscally responsible. it's a very important thing for

our future and our children's future. >> the president is attempting to bring in leaders this week. how critical is that toward the effort, the steps needed to get this done and basically what the president and your group wants to accomplish? >> very critical, thomas. what our group has done is reached out to the corporate leaders, big business, small, mid-sized. we've raised over $35 million from those business leaders from a p.r. campaign to learn what's at stake here. i think it's important. i think business has to deliver a message to both sides, to the president and to the republicans in the house and senate. and that is that this has got to get done. we have on our board, bob zoellick, the former head of the world bank. and bob zoellick said the u.s. is one debt deal away from cementing its role as the leading economic power in the world for the next 25 years.

that's how high the stakes are. and business has to be a big part of persuading all sides to take a little pain and get this zbloen as everybody is paying their fair share, the extension of the tax cuts for those making $250,000 has been one of the sticking points so far. but conservative voices were brought up, like bill crystal, made a glare og mission over the weekend that i want to point out to everybody. >> it won't kill the country if we raise taxes a little bit on million nairs. it really won't, i don't think. i don't understand why republicans don't take obama's offer to freeze taxes for everyone below $250,000. the republican party is going to fall to -- >> throw it on the hollywood libs. tax the hell out of them. get those hollywood libs. but now that he's hut in it that frame of mind and people can

see, we're going to go after those hollywood liberals, tax them, get their movie money, do you think members of your party would be more amenable to this. >> you do a significant amount of reduction in spending along the lines of simpson/bowles where 75% of the savings on the debt came from spending reductions and 25% came from revenues. generate more revenues and apply some of it to the debt. the issue of taxing high-end folks is a straw dog. you generate about $50 million a year on that. you don't resolve the problem. you address a political issue. if we want to resolve the problem, it has to be a comprehensive agreement. >> it boils down to this arithmetic. this was said over the weekend.

>> i think the speaker's comments have been encouraging and obviously there's money to be gained by closing some of these loopholes and applying them to deficit reduction. so i think there are a lot of ways to skin this cat, so long as everybody comes with a positive, constructive attitude toward the task. >> governor, are you as equally confident that the speaker will be able to rally the support? certainly last week, we watched in the speaker's briefing, he was very tight on his language, as everybody was going to be looking to break down semantics of exactly what he said. but he said twice in the briefing he didn't want to box himself in with anything just yet. >> that's why it's important the speaker gets help and gets help from the business community and from ordinary citizens who say, we want you guys to solve this problem. we want it done in a bipartisan way. and we're ready to take a little pain. i think the point that judd made is so important. taxing rich people, let's say we

decide to do a millionaire's tax, that brings in a whole lot less than the $250,000. that tax would be about $10 billion a year which hardly adds up over ten years. that's more symbolic. the key is from our side, we want rich people to pay more. and that's, let's say "x." we can do that by reforming the tax code, particularly on the corporate side. that money that comes -- the revenue that comes from reforming the tax code is predominantly going to come from rich people. why fight over something symbolic when we can accomplish the same goals by doing exactly what simpson/bowles suggest and what judd just talked about. >> gentlemen, thank you so much for your time today. ed, are you in baltimore today? >> i am, absolutely. two speeches. >> thanks again. coming up, a neighborhood in indianapolis nearly leveled after a deadly explosion. just look at this video. plus, what an ending to this week's nascar race.

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can leave cloudy, hard water deposits, but cascade complete pacs help leave glasses sparkling. shiny! too bad it doesn't work on windows. okay, i'm outta here. more dishwasher brands in north america recommend cascade. welcome back. here's a look at the stories topping the news. investigators still trying to figure out what caused a deadly explosion in an indianapolis neighborhood on saturday. at least two people were killed. up to 30 homes destroyed. some of the hurricane sandy victims, they're still in the dark. about 90,000 customers without power. most of them residing on long island. the floating city is living up to its name. venice is under water. heavy rain and high tides causing near record flooding. a wreck on the racetrack turns into a massive brawl off the track. it all happened after jeff gordon intentionally wrecked clint bowyer in the second to last lap. a brawl broke out between the

two teams in the garage area. nascar officials met with both drivers after the race. f penalties could be handed out tomorrow. "skyfall" bringing in nearly $80 million at the box office. the biggest opening for a james bond movie. national security impact, a lot of big questions about this. senator dianne feinstein says general petraeus' affair could have had an impact here at home. roger cressy will join me. and there's already speculation about joe biden running for president in 2016. but could it be another biden on the ticket. beau biden will join us. it's swanson flavor boost. concentrated broth to add delicious flavor to your skillet dish in just one stir. mmm! [ female announcer ] cook, meet compliments. get recipes at flavorboost.com.

. david petraeus' resignation is raising serious security questions. ever since he quit over an affair with his biographer, paula broad wae, lawmakers are demanding answers, some saying

national security was a greater risk than originally thought. >> this is something that could have had an effect on national security. i think we should have been told. >> seems it's been going on for several months. and now it's saying the fbi didn't realize until election day that general petraeus was involved -- it doesn't add up. >> joining me now is terrorism analyst roger cressey. as i was talking to pete williams earlier in this hour, he reported that this case all began out of a cyber harassment situation in florida where a petraeus family friend, a woman named jill jell lee, had a buddy in the fbi, wanted to give these anonymous e-mails to them to source it out to figure where they were coming from because she perceived them as threatening. from your experience in this, what sort of wording needs to be used or the content of this e-mail that needs to be deemed as threatening for somebody within the local fbi, the regional office there in florida

to say, i'll take a crack at this? >> thomas, i want to take the relationship part of this whole story and throw to it the side because it's irrelevant to the national security component. i think you had two important clips there. what senator feinstein said is right, this could have had an effect on national security. but based on the facts we know, it didn't. so there was no national security impact. once it became clear the fbi concluded that general petraeus did not leak classified information. the second part is what representative king. the fbi didn't know about this as soon as they should have. actually, his facts are wrong there. the fbi was fully engaged in this process for months. so there's two national security issues here. the first is, who does president obama replace director petraeus with? the second issue is whether or not general petraeus should testify on benghazi? i believe he should. >> here comes the bigger question that is come out of this because this was a thread that unraveled kind of a larger

tapestry. again, there doesn't seem to be an issue with the national security breach. we're still getting more information about this. and the investigation will continue. but does this beg the bigger question, because of petraeus' storied background within the military, doing a good job so far within the cia. he's only been there since september of 2011. but should these private, personal matters will raised and elevated so publicly to the point where we're losing someone like a petraeus in a position like there because of very personal, highly sensitive issues going on that have nothing to do with work? >> i think there's one issue republicans and democrats can agree on. no one is infallible or perfect. i think there is a real personal tragedy here. but there's a loss for the country in terms of national security. general petraeus was a great leader and i believe he was doing a very good job at the cia. so we have to look at it from that perspective.

and i think based on the information we know so far, what has been laid out, the fbi did the right thing. they should not have informed congress earlier. there is a question about whether or not the president should have been informed at an earlier point. once the fbi concluded there was no national security breach by the cia director, there was really nothing there to raise. and so i think as we look at this bigger picture, leave aside the personal part of it and focus on what are the security implications? anybody in congress who's talking about some sort of joint committee to investigate this, really? we need to be focusing on bigger issues because there was no national security breach. the fbi said it and i think that's the end of this story. >> in that case, should any of this have gone public? if you source where these anonymous e-mails are coming from to broadwell, you confront her, say, cut it out, this woman's complained. you figure out there may be some kind of connection here to petraeus. we have to sew this one up and figure out there is not any type of leak or breach. once they do that, why does it

need to become public fodder? >> it really doesn't. there's no security angle. did general petraeus do what he thought was the right thing to do in terms of offering his resignation? the president concluded he had to do it. he did what he felt was correct. i think in the case of ms. broadwell, an issue we haven't talked about, she had classified information on her personal computer. where did it come from? that's a violation of the rules. that's where we might need an investigation. >> roger cressey, great to see you this morning. thank you. now to democratic congressman from kentucky, john yarmouth. the other big story taking over the whole lexicon is fiscal cliff for everybody. great to have you here. while i want to talk about that, i want to ask you about the petraeus situation because you serve on the oversight committee and the national security and homeland defense subcommittee. with those responsibilities,

what is your reaction to this news and petraeus' resignation? >> well, just listening to roger cressey, i couldn't agree more with anything that's been said about this whole situation than what he just said. i think anybody who tries to grandstand this or politicize it at this point risks making a total fool of themselves. this is a personal situation. there doesn't seem to be any security implications at all. if it had happened to another agency head, it would have been a one-day story at most. so i think we ought to all take a deep breath and certainly we need to make sure that there were no security implications -- or that there was any kind of an issue with coordination between two very important security agencies. but other than that, any rush to make a grandstand theater out of this, i think is a real mistake. >> sir, let's turn, then, to the fiscal cliff.

both sides of the aisle returning back to work tomorrow. i said earlier, america is going kicking and screaming to this fiscal cliff. but it's more like a curve. but with congress back to work tomorrow and the president saying he's confident he can get a deal done. he's going to sit down with congressional leaders on friday to hammer the details out. listen to chuck shumer >> the president campaigned on letting the bush tax cuts expire for people above $250,000. he complained on it clearly. didn't back off from it. the exit polls show that 60% of the people agreed with it. >> is this going to be the hardest work for you on the hill when you go back to getting your colleagues on the right to agree with the fact that america put the president back in office for a second term? they're looking to him because his leadership style is what they want. is that going to be a hard sell when you get back to work on this? >> i think it is going to be a

hard sell. and what's disturbid me most about the comments from speaker boehner and senator mcconnell and others on the republican side is this whole disingenuous problem that you can solve the problem by closing loopholes. most of those don't touch the wealthiest americans. unless you're willing to deal with rates, capital gains, dividends and the highest marginal rate, you don't really touch the very wealthiest americans by dealing with home mortgage deductions, certainly the eitc or the child tax credit. those are where the biggest sources of tax expenditures are. i think it is going to be a tough sell. although, on the other hand, i do believe there are a lot of republicans who understand that this no taxes, the grover norquist pledge, issing this that is preventing real progress from being made. people like scott riggle from virginia who's pluckily renounced the pledge, i think

there's a possibility we're going to see yield with a number of members. and if up to 70 republicans say we want a deal on this topic, they'll get plenty of help from our side. >> there's been talk about nancy pelosi and the speculation that she's going to step down as minority leader. have you heard anything about that and what are your thoughts about that? you're returning to work tomorrow. >> well, i got in trouble two years ago when i was asked that question because i really didn't at that time think that then speaker pelosi was going to want to be minority leader. if he wants to be minority leader, she will have that job as long as she wants it. she's been a tireless worker for the party. if she decides to step down, i think actually the leadership pieces will fall into place pretty quickly without contention in the democratic caucus and we'll have a very, very strong leadership contingent going forward in this congress. but right now, she hasn't laid her cards on the table. i assume we'll learn more later

this week. >> i think that was a really good answer. i don't think you can get in trouble from that. you did a great job. congressman, thank you for your time. >> thanks, thomas. florida finally decides on president obama. what took so long to count their vote? former governor charlie crist joins me next about that. and another one of the vice president's sons is joining the military. hunter biden heading to the navy. his other son, beau, a member of the national guard. he is going to join me to talk about honoring our nation's veterans and also about his brother joining the navy. ng yous couldn't be easier. well, having a ton of locations doesn't hurt. and my daughter loves the santa. oh, ah sir. that is a customer. let's not tell mom. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. fedex office. [ male announcer ] jill and her mouth have lived a great life. but she has some dental issues she's not happy about. so i introduced jill to crest pro-health for life. selected for people over 50.

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this year without florida. everybody certainly plays and campaigns to get the electoral votes from your state. how surprised are you by that? >> well, i was very pleased by the result. i was just sorry that it took so long. but to get those 29 electoral votes from florida in president obama's column was a big deal. it was wonderful to have it happen. it felt like that was going to happen toward the end of the campaign. i went to rallies with him in hollywood and orlando and other parts of the state, in tampa, st. petersburg with president clinton. you could feel the passion and the energy on the ground. so the fact that he won it was wonderful. it was a little icing on the cake, like i say, very proud for our president and our florida. >> let's show everybody. the final vote count in florida shows president obama eking out this slim win. 74,000 of vote victory. but it was the second straight time that he carried the state. it has been solidly republican in the past.

do you think florida is more blue or purplish nowadays going forward? >> it's sort of a purple-blue, if you will. i think that you're right. in past elections, george bush did very well here. but starting with president obama, it's been trending more and more democratic. and i think a lot of that is what's happening in the i-4 corridor. pinellas county, st. petersburg, my home, hillsboro county here in tampa, both went for the president. but more significantly, orange and osceola counties, you had a great turnout of new puerto r o ricans that made a huge difference in this election, with the immigration issue, of course. >> one thing we need to discuss is the situation in florida. it was an 11-page ballot, to clarify for everybody. long lines that we saw there because people had a lot to consider when going to their polling place. but you were very critical of governor scott there because he refused to extend early voting

from eight days to the usual 14. during your time as governor, you did extend early voting. how do you think that florida can use hindsight as 20/20? it seems there is always in modern-day publics and modern-day elections, there's a sticking point with the state of florida. >> yeah. this really isn't complicated stuff. it's not rocket science. you just apply common sense. you have more early voting days. we used to have 14. they reduced that to eight. they didn't have as many places to vote for early voting. that's an obvious commonsense problem. so you have more. and you do what's right and make sure that you have enough of those early voting days. and if they aren't enough and the lines are long, then you sign an executive order as the chief executive of the state and give people what they deserve, a decent chance to cast their ballot, not have to wait in line, six, seven hours in some cases. i saw in miami gardens and other places in the state, it's not the right thing to do for the people you're supposed to be

serving. >> there is talk, speculation that you could run against scott as a democrat in 2014. is that a possibility? >> anything's possible. i'm not ruling anything in or anything out. what i'm focused on is being pleased for president obama, that florida came home for him, that senator nelson won. patrick murphy winning over against allen west on the east coast of the state. and koconsecratkonconcentrating thanksgiving, christmas and the holidays. >> you have a full plate. thanks for joining me today. i appreciate it. we'll be right back here with beau biden. baby boomers are stressed out. planning for retirement, taking care of aging parents and other issues create intense pressure on boomers. so take care of yourself with these stress relievers. get exercise. walking in particular can improve your mental and physical well being. get plenty of vitamin c. try meditation and quiet

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welcome back, everybody. and today, hopefully you know, is a national holiday honoring

veterans, veterans day. we have a special guest, beau biden, delaware's attorney general, the son of the vice president, and, i think it's safe to say, beau, a rising star in the democratic party. it's good to have you here. >> great to be on, thomas. >> first, we want to say thanks for your military service. i know that you were also involved with what took place post-sandy, because you were called up by the national guard to help. so tell us what you had to do after sandy hit. >> look, my job was easy. i was at our state headquarters in what they call in and out of the joint operation center at our headquarters. people there are doing the real work. we're there 24/7. i was just caught up briefly for two days. and, you know, the real work is being done by all those soldiers that are there. we've actually sent up a number of soldiers to the state of new york, who are still there, from my understanding, who have been deployed up there. and i was not part of that. and there are people up there

doing good work, as we speak. >> for you, though, and as people see part of the reserve, you know, active in politics, you know, someone who has served, what is your message, though, to americans who are war weary and maybe not sure how to give back to the veteran community. >> well, there's a number of ways. i mean, businesses can give back by partnering with michelle obama and my mom through joining forces, which is committed in a private/public partnerships to make sure returning veterans, the 2.3 million of us who have returned in iraq and afghanistan have jobs when we return home. the first lady is well on the way to help creating with the private sector, hundreds of thousands of jobs. small businesses can take advantage of the tax credit that the president put through, that provides up to a $10,000 tax credit to higher veterans. you know, there's other ways people can contribute. a whole host of ways. joining forces, is one that comes to mind the most.

you know, 2.3 million have served over the last decade in these two wars in iraq and afghanistan, representing less than 1% of our population. nearly a million of those 2.3 have served multiple tours. i just applaud you and your platform for thanking veterans. today is really a celebration of veterans. and, so, i applaud you for highlighting that so much. >> beau, you know, it came across, i was following on twitter to find out that your brother, hunter, has joined the navy reserves. and at 42, explain to all of us, he had to get a special waiver to do this. what was the incentive, what was the desire for your brother to do that? >> my brother's my best friend. he's always had the desire to serve in a variety of capacities. this was a young man who when he graduated georgetown, joined the jesuit volunteer corps and went and volunteered and met his wife. he's the chairman of the world food program usa. he's always been driven by a desire to serve.

it's something that has been part of, you know, what we've been raised to do, and when you have an opportunity to try to find a way to give back, and he's always, you know, been pressed by being in the military. my grandfather, on my mother's side, was in the navy. so he found a time and place where he could contribute, and decided to direct that desire inside of him toward joining the navy reserve. i'm very, very, very proud of him. >> no, it was really great. i'm a guy. i just turned 40. your brother is a good example that the 40s are the new 20s. >> that's exactly right. >> 42. make it happen. >> and the reality, thomas, is you're exactly right. and the reality, too, you've covered these wars. there are a lot of folks our age who have served multiple tours in iraq and afghanistan, and so it's -- this is not uncommon. >> delaware attorney general beau biden. beau, great to see you. >> thanks, thomas. >> that's going to wrap things up for me. thank you for your time. joining me tomorrow, jen psaki, traveling press secretary for

the obama campaign and actress ali sheedy who's helping youth victims of hurricane sandy. now with alex wagner is coming up next. but ari melber is filling in. ari, i have one question for you, alley sheedy, are you a "st. elmo's fire" fan or "breakfast club." >> i'll go with "breakfast club." does that count? >> we'll take that. up ahead, we're going to take a look at the important legal and intelligence questions that are regarding the investigation that did bring down former cia chief david petraeus. we will also report on the new allegations that are swirling around this case. then, we are going to do a timeline and talk to author wes moore, pulitzer prize-winning reporter, david woods, salon's joan walsh, msnbc's robert traynham, and "the new york times's" nicholas kons skoir. and some republicans say tax hikes might be necessary to prevent automatic spending cuts

at the end of this year. could cooperation be back in style in washington? and finally, adapt or die. we will look at how the gop is adjusting to a new normal after their political bubble burst. all that when "now" starts in three minutes. ♪ constipated? yeah. mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magnesium. for effective relief of occasional constipation. thanks. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'.

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